Keuchel calls everyone out

The home plate ump, the lax effort from teammates — as the White Sox fall back under .500, the veteran stepped up to try to stop the bleeding

Dallas Keuchel threw a quality start on Monday, but getting squeezed at home plate left the veteran southpaw rather spicy.

And then, he started in on his teammates.

As for home plate ump Dan Iassonga, Keuchel went straight to him after the fourth inning, during which the southpaw was visibly frustrated.

"I was just basically asking where the zone was," Keuchel said postgame. "All the heat maps were saying he was giving all around before the game, so while I know every game's different, it wasn’t like I wasn’t missing too much. I felt like I needed to say something: Where do you got those pitches?

"Nobody’s perfect. But I expect a professional job, game-in, game-out, because I put forth the effort ... It just didn’t work out tonight, Hopefully I have a little bit better zone next time."

But Keuchel reserved most of his frustration to his fellow White Sox, who he tabbed as putting forth a "subpar effort.".

"I would have liked to see the team play better tonight ... we came out flat, stayed flat the whole game," Keuchel said. "We got some guys coming out and taking professional at-bats, being professional on the mound, doing what it takes to win, and we got some guys going through the motions. We need to clean a lot of things up. If we want to be in this thing at the end of the season, we’re going to have to start that now."

This wasn't blind criticism of his teammates. It was knowing this game was winnable — and those teammates letting the loss overcome them.

"When you have enough talent to potentially win every game, its very frustrating when you have games like this, and it just seemed like we were out of it from the get-go,” Keuchel said. "It just seemed like we were taking the night off. We can’t afford that with a young core like we have here. We have to show up every day, and even if there’s no fans we have to make sure we’re ready to go. And if we’re not ready to go, we’ve got to fake it till we make it. Today was one of the first games I’ve seen very subpar play from everybody."

When Keuchel was asked what steps are needed from the team to clean it up, the veteran did not hesitate.

"The first thing is, if you love baseball, show up to the park everyday and be sure that you’re ready to go," he said. "When you show up to the park at 2 p.m., you don’t always have to feel your greatest, but at 7 p.m. when the lights come on, and even with no fans ... if you don’t want to dominate the guy who’s throwing to you or if you don’t want to compete against a whole lineup you’re facing, you’re in the wrong sport. 

"There’s going to be a lot of learning curves for this team, and this is one of them. We faced a challenge tonight, and hopefully we can come out tomorrow and strap it up and play some white Sox baseball."

The southpaw remains hopeful that just 17 games into the season and still close to first place, a lot can change.

"It’s not going to be something that just happens overnight," Keuchel said. "I’ve seen this play out many times, and it takes a while ... we didn’t start out hot, we kind of caught fire a bit, we weren’t even playing great but we were getting wins. So to kind of be hovering here is in a great spot, and that’s why I’m so frustrated with tonight.

"We have a great opportunity these next couple games to get some wins and keep moving the wagon forward. As frustrating as it is tonight, we could very well come out tomorrow and play like we’re supposed to, and then win the series on Wednesday. It’s something that happens on a young team, but we have to keep pushing forward."

Watch Keuchel's full postgame comments below, courtesy of the White Sox: